Life: Idiotropic

Today we dropped Kirk off at the Dusseldorf International Airport so he could spend two weeks at a class in D.C., and we drove north just 30 minutes to Oberhausen to go to an aquarium.

It was a Sunday. It was sunny. I thought that I'd be a "good mom" and take the kids to something fun. And I've missed zoos. In Oklahoma we had a family membership to both the zoo and the Omniplex science center. For only $50 a year all 6 of us could go to the zoo every day if we wanted to. It was perfect. In 18 months here, today was the first time we've been to any animal attraction - not because they're not here - there are actually a lot of zoos around, but because I couldn't stomach the cost. Over $20 a person for some. Almost that much for the less-expensive zoos.


Oberhausen itself is nice. They have a new centrum area set up with it's theaters and entertainment centers all in one location around a nicely kept canal lined with a variety of international restaurants on one side and a decent looking amusement park on the other. Lined on both sides with a green space with ducks and fountains, it feels a bit like Oklahoma City's Bricktown or San Antonio's Riverwalk. It does not feel like Germany - instead, it's very modern. We could have been anywhere.

We parked in the SeaLife parking which was not anywhere remotely near SeaLife, so by the time we dragged our weary selves hot and sweaty into SeaLife itself, we were ready to jump in with the fish to cool off.

Ahhh... so now I know why I don't go to these places here in Europe. Cha Ching. For myself and the 4 girls, it was 61 Euros (close to $100) just to get in. We didn't even get the little booklet - that would have been 3 Euros more. Now I've been to great aquariums. I've been to Seattle and San Francisco and Monterrey. Nothing can compare with Monterrey. And that certainly didn't cost anywhere near $100 to get in. But there we were amazed, wowed, and astounded. There, we spent almost the entire day and wanted more. At SeaLife I tried to get my money's worth. We stood and chatted in each room. We walked prehistorically slow like the great dinosaur processional in the blazing sun. We dallied and dawdled. And still, after 2.5 hours, we'd absolutely exhausted the possibilities at SeaLife. We'd pontificated each fish. We counted sharks swimming above our heads as if they were sheep. The kids played at the Pirate Island Play area. And after 2.5 hours we were all (even the kids) ready to go.
Photos: Arianna, Luci, and Elise on the toy helicopter "ride" at the end of the aquarium - ironically enough, the highlight of the day. My girls in Oberhausen on a small bridge over the canal.


From there we walked sadly past the Centrepark amusement park thinking how much better spent my money could have been until we found an Italian restaurant where, for significantly less money, we had an absolutely fabulous meal in an exquisite atmosphere with impeccable service.

What can I say... live and learn. Now I can add one thing to my list... what do I miss about the US? Affordable, quality zoos and aquariums. Sad.

I got a request for this recipe - it's one of our family favorites and something that Tiara was very excited that Kirk was cooking for her birthday. The recipe changes a little every time Kirk makes it. Sometimes it's a little too hot for me. This is where you really need to play with the quantities of pepper sauce and sweetener and do a lot of taste tests.

Chicken Bulgoki Recipe by Kirk
"I have played with this recipe a lot, and a huge part is determining how sweet and how spicy you would like the sauce. The measurements below become suggestions only as you figure out the right balance of flavors."

Ingredients:

• 1 package chicken breasts (split lengthwise to make them thinner)
• 1-6 oz. can tomato paste
• 1 cup soy sauce
• 2 tbsp Korean red pepper paste
• 4 garlic cloves (minced)
• 3 tbsp Splenda (brown sugar or maple syrup also work)
  
• 2 tbsp black pepper
• ½ cup warm water
• 4 sliced carrots chopped to ¼ inch pieces
• 1/4 white onion fine chopped
• 4-6 green onions chopped to ¼ inch lengths (green portions only)
• ½ teaspoon sesame oil
• ¼ cup sesame seeds

Preparation:

Slice chicken into thin, flat pieces.

Sauce: In a large bowl, mix tomato paste, soy sauce, black pepper, and chopped white onion. Add water to increase the amount of sauce. Place chicken in bowl to marinate in sauce.

Remove chicken and remove as much sauce as possible. Grill chicken on open flame, or on cast iron over open flame until cooked through. Set aside.

While the chicken is grilling, cook the sauce. Add carrots and green onions to sauce, and cook well. Remove from heat. Add sesame oil. The add Splenda (doesn’t loose sweetness in the heat) and pepper sauce until good balance of sweet and spicy achieved. You can also use maple syrup, brown sugar, etc..

Add the chicken to the sauce. Serve over jasmine rice. Sprinkle sesame seeds lightly over entire dish before serving. A good Thai ice tea goes well with this dish.

Friday, the thirteenth meant something when I lived in the states. Not necessarily to me, mind you, but being immersed in our American society, I was aware each Friday the 13th of it's "bad luck" qualities. Here, away from that culture almost entirely, those things don't even cross my mind. Today was just another day. I never stopped to think what the date was let alone clue into the correlations between that and the possible stubbornness of a horse.

While I don't speak German even remotely well, I do understand quite a bit especially basics like numbers and days, but when today, at horses, Tanja kept telling me that it was Freitag der dreizehn, I stood there with the clueless expression on my face until she got someone to translate it into English. I understood the words, but as she kept telling me over and over, I just couldn't make the connection between the date itself and any significance. She's German. I didn't realize they had that superstition here as well.

They do... just like us. I just looked up the day on Wikipedia and found out we're not alone in our superstitions. In English, German, Polish, and Portuguese speaking cultures, Friday the 13th is an ominous day. In Italy Friday the 13th is a lucky day and Friday the 17th is bad. In Greece and Spain, it's TUESDAY the 13th that is scary (tritidekatriaphobia).

By the way... paraskevidekatriaphobia is that $100 word meaning an irrational fear of Friday the 13th. Try to say that one 5 times fast.

Photos from our day which was not in the least bit unlucky except for the light mist this morning... 1) Misha decorated with fabric pieces by Elise for "the ballet" 2) All four girls on a merry-go-round that you operate yourself by pulling on the center immovable bar at one of our favorite ice cream place - Eis Paradies 3) These remarkable cement buckets of sorts that they use here to build walls, then they fill them with soil and plant flowers, so all of the sudden, you have a flowering wall on both sides. These are also at our favorite ice cream establishment.

Today was Tiara's 12th birthday. We'd had plans to go to Phantasialand, but it rained, so we let her sleep in until noon after her late night at the movies and just had a relaxing day. Kirk cooked chicken bulgoki for her birthday dinner - one of Tiara's absolutely favorite foods and something that Kirk learned to cook quite well in Korea. We went to horseback riding lessons in the evening, an activity that Tiara didn't want to miss, then came home for plum streusel tarts and a delicious cream cake from our local bakery. The day was anticlimactic, but still nice. Kirk was off of work and Tiara got to spend the day the way she wanted it.

It's 0335 and I just got home from the Dutch Premier of the latest Harry Potter movie - now probably still three hours ahead of the earliest U.S. premiers. It's kinda funny to think of all those people standing in line on the east coast while I'm heading off to slumber knowing exactly what this movie was like. No spoilers here... but, being the Dutch premier was interesting. We saw the original version - only with Dutch subtitles. They change the names of many of the characters which is strange. The show began at 2355 (11:55pm) and ended right around 0230 with the 20 minute intermission. The red carpet was rolled out with large advertisements for the movie all around, and in one corner, a lady dressed up with a gown and witches hat, stood at three tall tables housing small clear plastic footed cups with drinks of assorted colors. The green ones were non-alcoholic and tasted like diluted watermelon/apple jello. The others in red, yellow, and orange were VERY alcoholic - quite strong actually, and came in various unidentifiable fruit flavours. The tables were there, attended, but not really supervised. The drinks were free. Anyone could walk up and grab, one, two, or more. I had two... that was plenty.
We all ate candy and good old-fashioned American popcorn. That's what it said on the red, white, and blue starred box. And, that Dutch "American popcorn" was better than anything I've ever had in the states.

At midnight just before the show started, Tiara turned 12. I teased her about waiting until it was midnight on the West Coast, but gave in and gave her first present to her there at the theatre. All in all a good night.

So have you heard about the great mountains of The Netherlands? You know, they might just be vying for a position to host the next next winter Olympics!

Ok, ok... so yes, The Netherlands is flat almost entirely with most of the country below sea level. But, that doesn't stop the Dutch. These people are world travellers and skiers and there's no telling them not to ski in the summer. So, they built SnowWorld.

Yesterday, we went skiing with a bunch of friends, looking for something fun to do and excited about the idea of skiing in July.

SnowWorld is a indoor ski center in Landgraaf, NL just about 30 minutes from our home where you can ski any day of the year. There is one small area for beginners and young kids with a conveyor belt so that they can step onto it and get slowly moved up the hill at a non-threatening pace. Arianna spent quite a bit of time there confidently skiing on her own in that little area. Some of her friends played in that area with their little red sleds.

Just to the left is a banana tow, a rope tow with plastic "bananas" that hook behind you and pull you up. Then, just to the other side of the run sits the one and only chair lift there. It's not bad. It goes up a ways in between two runs that weren't open that day and over the top of a mid-hill restaurant advertising "biertje?" and other Dutch foods. (bier is beer) It lets you off at the top, of course, and then there is one run to go down that is a perfect beginner run.

I decided to take ALL FOUR GIRLS with me for the day confident that Arianna and Luci would remember how to ski and I could ski for a while with Elise before she went home with a friend. Tiara got there, got ready quickly, then took off skiing before I even had the little girl's skis on.

Arianna was nervous, but went up the banana lift by herself and skied down pretty well, falling once, but not being upset by it. Luci, on the other hand, forgot how to ski. She was scared. So, I finally got her and Elise up the banana lift comically, then told her to make her pizza with her skis and go down while I held Elise between my skis to help her down. Luci made her pizza, pointed down, built up speed, and crashed. Poor thing. So, I picked Elise up, skis and all, and raced down to where Luci crashed with Elise on my hip. Elise loved skiing with me holding her between my skis, but I couldn't do that all day and she didn't want to try anything by herself. Luci will do great again in ski lessons, but needs more instruction before she has the confidence to ski by herself again. So... I did another run each with Luci and Elise and then sent them inside with a friend so she could take them home with her. I am a mother, not a ski instructor and while I feel great about helping Tiara, I am not skilled to logic with little people on the slopes. Arianna skied a while longer and then we all went in for lunch. Aria saw my friend, LaVonne with her sisters and decided that playing with the dogs was going to be more fun than being cold. FREEDOM! Tiara and I skied the rest of the day both together and with our friends. She's FUN to ski with! Confident and fast.

So, there it is... indoor skiing. This place is great for people who love to ski and want to continue in the summer. It's great to train. It's great for beginners. It's set up beautifully with everything that you need pretty conveniently located. However, being indoors, it lacks trees and sky - two things that play a large part of my ski addiction.

Will I go back? Probably, occasionally with friends. Often, not. I need sky and trees and a variety of runs. This one run was fun, but got boring really quickly and I can imagine that on a busier day, the little slopes would fill up making it impossible and probably a little dangerous to attempt a good run down the hill. Tiara enjoyed herself, but she felt the same way. She'll go with friends to have a good time and be social, but it's not a place she needs to go a lot. We prefer the mountains. Send us to the Alps!

Thank you for the wishes. I did get several messages and emails wishing me a happy 4th of July. Of course, I'd completely forgotten that it was a holiday. To us here, it blends with the other days of the week. If we were at an American base, we'd get the day off and there would be a celebration. Here, we get the German holidays off instead and our celebration waits until Saturday.

So, this Saturday, the 7th, we headed to the base for a good ol' fashioned Independence Day celebration complete with American hot dogs, hamburgers, ribs, with good German beer and wine. All the little kid rides and inflatables were free, so my little girls spent at least 3 hours jumping, climbing, and swinging on rides. Elise spent most of her time on the swings and the "jumping thing." My other two little ones went up and down the large Bugs Bunny slide over and over again until they were hot and sweaty - over an hour without rest. We ate, we visited, we avoided the food tent because that's where the stage was and it was too loud to talk. It was a nice time.

There aren't many times when you can see so many Americans all together in one place, so this one event each year is a lot of fun for us just to reconnect and socialize with people that we don't see every day. Dunkin Donuts was there - not my favorite, but their tent was very popular with people of all nationalities that attended. There was a bird show with absolutely gorgeous birds of prey flying so low over our heads at times that I was touched with the end of a bird's wing as he flew. Tiara rode the mechanical bull for a long time with the speed increasing slowly. She didn't get thrown, but finally stepped off as it got more intense in her typically graceful ballerina style. The bands were good if you were a lot younger. Apparently, the band, Lit, that was there, is a well-known band in the U.S, so there was a huge line outside their fancy RV when they finished with people getting autographs, guitar picks, and drum sticks. I stood outside complaining about the "noise" unaware until later that they were a "cool" band. Some call it age. I call it taste. I have some - they don't, and I prefer to keep my hearing.

The evening ended, as they all do, with a nice fireworks display - and a pretty nice one too considering the size of our area. My only gripe is that the display included no music at all. So, again, there was not one American song sung that I heard and watching fireworks without music is almost like watching a movie on mute. It's pretty, but hollow. Plus, the music gives you a pretty good clue as to when the display is ending. With this, we weren't really sure.

• A doodle bear that glows in the dark
• A doodle dinosaur
• A hand held fan
• A dry erase board with markers
• A sea shell to listen to the sea

I planned to take the girls to the zoo, but the rain had other plans. Still, Arianna was happy staying home. She played on the computer, colored, helped decorate her cupcakes, played, watched her choice of movie, and had a generally mellow, self-planned day. The highlight was going to the store where she got to bring her own money and buy something. The cashier was very patient with her as she tried to count out her Euro coins to pay.

The theme of the day was SIX and growing up. Arianna woke up a big girl and was proud of her transformation. In the evening we opened presents. She got her dry erase board and sea shell along with some art supplies and a couple barbies that she had wanted. Her dinner of choice was pasta from Il Genio's, then we had cupcakes for dessert. Those 6 candles went out quickly. And as the girls ran off to play, Arianna was telling her sisters which of her new birthday toys that they could play with. She really is growing up to be a beautiful girl inside and out.

... is a darling little white pony that Arianna rode on Wednesday and both Luci and Elise rode today. Luci was supposed to ride at three, but before we left, she said she didn't want to ride horses, so, I got Elise ready just in case with long pants and rain boots. When it was time for Luci's lesson, she was nervous and sunk back in her seat, so I asked Tanja if Elise could go instead, and sure enough, Elise was ready and all smiles. Circle after circle on Kentucky, Elise just grinned, loving every minute of it. After the very first lap around the large arena, Tanja stopped for a moment and said, "She has a new name. Sunshine!" And that's what she called Elise the rest of the afternoon. Eventually, we talked Luci into going on with Elise, and then after a little while, she rode alone. And when it was time to go home, Luci didn't want to get off the horse. She had a great time. Elise is really too young for lessons, but I'll ask if she can have some time to ride too since she loves it so much. Luci's all in now, excited to go back and ride Kentucky again.

Not related, of course.

Today I took a friend of mine to IKEA - an almost-necessity for anyone who's recently moved here, and an exciting adventure for most born-to-shoppers. I also took the kids which is great for them and just a little stressful for me. See, my kids love IKEA. It's not that they want to shop for a new kitchen or pick out new slipcovers, but from beginning to almost end, the store is filled with little predecorated rooms showing just how beautiful your home could be if you shopped exclusively at IKEA. The rooms are colorful and fun complete with chandeliers in some and fancy dishes in others. Some with toys, some with fancy beds, others with swivel chairs. This is like a dollhouse gone wild and my girls are the dollies. So, I show my saintly (ha, ha) restraint and patience while asking them in my nicest "in-public" mommy voice to please stop jumping on that bunk bed and no, those aren't your dishes, please stop licking them. The benefit is, of course, that I can hang ice cream over their heads. Not literally, but close enough. At the midway point in the store, is the restaurant - a place almost always packed with eaters of all ages. The kids get the kids meal there that includes a rather sweet plasticky tasting ice cream that keeps them, for a short bit, almost tranquil. (Hmmmm... I wonder what's in that ice cream anyway? This could be one for the conspiracy theorists...) Anyway... today I left with several bargains and it all fit in my mini-van - hooray!

This afternoon I drove by my favorite cows. They've had four new babies this year. Birthday, Tuesday, and Junior are black. Caramel is, well, caramel colored and the cutest of the bunch. It's been a while since I've posted a cow picture and we're still mourning the fact that "our cows" have not arrived yet in the field next to our house, so here's my first cow picture of the year - Caramel, about 4 weeks old.

Months ago, I'd decided that horses would be fun for the girls and also teach them discipline and calmness. My middle two, especially, could use some lessons in how to control their energy. They can't be crazy on or around a horse, so these lessons should be a bit therapeutic as well. So, Arianna and Tiara had their first horseback riding lessons this evening. Tanya teaches English-style riding, rescues horses, and also breeds and sells them. Her barns are enormous and she has horses of all sizes and one cow.

Aria was a little nervous and had a hard time sitting up straight on Kentucky, her little horse. She just kind of sat there like it was a pony ride, unsure really of what to do, but by the end, she was sitting a little better and getting a bit more comfortable.

Tiara, most likely due to her dancing, was a natural. She felt good on top of Holiday, the tall Nordrhein, and did very well trotting and galloping. Her legs were sore, but she loved the time and I think she'll improve quickly.

Luci will ride on Friday.

We're having unseasonably cold weather here. According to one German neighbor, the "siebenschlaefstag" foretold more cold coming this summer. This is a day, a seemingly random day in June, that is much akin to our Groundhog's Day in that whatever the weather is on this special day, that will be the predominate weather for the next 8 weeks of summer. Oh boy. Gotta love that. Just serve up a little bit of sun, a lot of rain, and extra cold on the side.

Tonight Tiara had ballet and we went for ice cream to pass the time. On a warm summer day, the Sittart markt would have been absolutely packed with people. Each restaurant would have been full with people spilling out to fill the sidewalk seating. This evening, the markt was like a ghost town. Restaurants open with only one table to serve and the space heaters on outside like it was January.

Still, we went for ice cream as promised. The little ones wouldn't let me go anywhere else despite the cold. We just sat inside. I enjoyed my usual cappuccino with a cookie and a small cone dish filled egg liquor with whipped cream on the side.

The walk back to ballet was nice as always. We took the little path behind Putstraat, looked for the goblin in the tree that my dad told the girls about one trip of his, looked at the chickens, and climbed up on the hill above Fort Sanderbout where the trees are espaliered and you can enjoy a beautiful view of the rooftops and a sneaky peak into some one's back yard and living room.

When there is a nice day, I really would like to go and sit outside with my camera poised so that I can catch the bicyclists going by. Here, it is not at all uncommon to see two adults on a bicycle. One peddling and the other sitting sideways on the back where a basket would normally sit on market days.

Summer break is here now, I'm trying to catch up on all the backburnered items from the year. That could take a small eternity, so I'm making an effort to do at least one fun, mommy-involved thing with the kids each day. Today was painting - always a favorite with all four, and, for me, it's really a treat to see the finished product as they always reflect the individual styles and developmental stages of my little artists.

We are Americans living in Germany.

Some days we fit in here - almost. Some days I truly feel that I am home. I drive all over the place comfortably. I talk to my neighbors. I stand on the sidewalk with all the others and clap during the Schuetzenfest parades. I don't feel conspicuous, usually.

But, we're still Americans. I don't speak the language remotely well. I don't read the paper much and can't understand everything I hear on the radio. Things go on around me all the time that I am unaware of - just because I am on the outside.

There are benefits... We don't pay tax on our oil. We get our fuel ration card, so we don't have to pay quite so much for gas. We have our little grocery store in Schinnen and our own American school. It's really a mix.

So, for those small things that I am able to participate in - even if I don't really "get it," I still appreciate the experience. The girls' schooling affords me these opportunities more than ever now. And, I'm learning. By the time we leave, I may even know a few things.

Today we had two times to share in those traditions - two times to celebrate with our children and try to feel inconspicuous.

Last night Luci spent the night at the preschool. The International Preschool is run by the German services on the base. Most of the teachers are German and they do an excellent job combining the American academic expectations with some German traditions. Since Americans begin traditional school a year younger and Luci's pre-kindergarten class is now moving on to that age when they will start at an American kindergarten, the teachers treat it as they would in the last year of the German Kindergarten (which is really more of a preschool). So, just as Arianna had her sleepover at the Heuhotel last week, Luci got her turn to sleep at her school last night. She was really nervous and asked her teachers if Arianna could stay with her. But, I convinced her to stay by herself and she did a great job. They watched a movie, read stories, ate pizza (she had chicken nuggets - doesn't like pizza), and took a walk in the dark with their flashlights!

I talked to Luci's teacher about it telling her how much I appreciate her doing the sleepover and how special it is. She told me that when a teacher goes to school in Germany to get her teaching certificate, they actually have formal training in how to do an overnighter with children. It is part of the tradition here, so any teacher working with this age group will do many, many sleepovers in their career. It is just part of the job. And, so they are prepared, organized, and make it really fun for the kids.

The next morning I picked her up and we all went to the IDH (International Dining Hall) for breakfast with her classmates and their families. It was a very nice morning and I was especially proud of Luci - staying by herself was really scary for her and she came home all smiles. The IDH had the traditional food... bacon, eggs, potatoes, hard-boiled eggs, toast with jam, meats and cheeses with brotchen, cereal, and... hedgehog sweetbread! They were adorable. The bakeries here can make bread look like just about anything!

This afternoon I baked chocolate chip cookies.

A few weeks ago, the director of Arianna's school told my friend, Holly, and I that they'd like to do an American-style BBQ for the end of the year party. So, we thought that hot dogs and traditional cookies would be great. The sign-up sheet went up not long after at the school asking ladies to sign up to bring either a noodle or potato salad. Confused, I asked if I needed to bring that or if I could bring cookies. "Bring cookies," said Tina, "and let the German mothers make the salads." Then she laughed and told us that she was learning sarcasm (something that most German's don't really have).


Holly brought hot dogs and buns, made chili and PB cookies. I made a HUGE batch of chocolate cookies, and, brought a bunch Hershey's kisses. I thought I was going to a small BBQ - in and out in an hour. Not quite. This was an event we were really unprepared for. It was huge. They had games set up and their big BBQ. It was crowded and hot. But, once people gathered, Tina spoke about the apple tree the students bought for the school, then all the vorschule kinder got a chance to water and plant the tree. Then the teachers all got out games and the kids ran and played. I loved the games. They were different.

Hildegard had gummi pacifiers tied on to string all ready to go. Each string had three, so she and another teacher held onto the ends of the string pulling it tight right above the heads of the three kids under it, then the kids without hands, would try to grab the gummi pacifier with their mouths and chew it off. The kids loved it and it was very humorous to watch.

The electric circuit was set up and the children had to run the metal object from one end to the other without touching the sides or the bell would ring. Arianna did a great job. Most of the kids made it ring on purpose enjoying the bells. A water table was set up with little animals tied with wire hooks, so the kids could "go fishing." Luci and Elise both enjoyed that activity and the teacher who ran it is Frau Gisbertz who will be Elise' teacher next year. She was very sweet with the girls. A ball toss knocked over animal faces, and there was a ball toss into egg cartons colored different colors. All the games were at least slightly different than those I'd seen at other carnivals, so it was fun and I'll take a couple ideas for use at my own kids parties or school celebrations.

Ok... I should have began with this... but. As we walked out into the back playground of the kindergarten, the first thing that I saw was not the large cone shaped grill, nor the crowds of people, nor the children's games, but the Bitburger beer in the hands of most of the adults there. I just never imagined going to a school BBQ and buying a beer. I didn't, of course, having not ever acquired the taste for that stuff, but I could have. 1 Euro for a beer. 50 Euro cents for water or apfelshorle.

The noodle and potato salads of various sorts filled an entire 6'+ table. An aversion to mayo prevented me from being too adventurous, but there was a delicious gnocchi salad with colored bell peppers, sauteed zucchini, and a light balsamic vinaigrette dressing. Definitely one to copy! My cookies went over well and many people tried the chili although spicy food does scare these people. They are just not accustomed to it. On the grill were hot dogs, pork fillets, and bratwurst. It all looked delicious.

So, that was the day. The BBQ went late and we enjoyed ourselves. The kids played and I conversed a little - ended up sitting at a table in the corner with other American friends hampered a bit to socialize too much by the language barrier. Intentions aren't good enough. If one person is uncomfortable with their language skills, then communications is challenged. And, in a big crowd, it's much easier to talk to the neighbor that you've known for years, than to talk to a foreigner. The people are kind and not generally unfriendly, but it does feel weird sometimes, to be there, and to not really belong. It's almost like watching a play. I hear the words and see the actions live in front of me, but instead of jumping on stage and being a player, I sit there and watch, usually entertained, but choosing quiet observation over active participation. Not always... but today, my participation was watching my girls participating and listening to Arianna speak German. She's getting pretty good.